Catantan wants another Olympic fencing stint

MANILA, Philippines -- After a valiant effort in her Olympic debut, fencer Sam Catantan is already eyeing the next edition of the quadrennial meet that's slated in Los Angeles.

Catantan reached the table of 32 of women’s individual foil on Sunday after defeating Brazil’s Mariana Pistoia in the first round.

Against the top-seeded Arianna Errigo of Italy, the 22-year-old Filipina clawed back from a 4-0 deficit and took the lead, 5-4.

Errigo, though, took matters into her hands, quelling comeback attempts by her opponent to win, 15-12.

After their match, Catantan said she is already looking forward to working her way back to the Olympics.

“After my bout po, grabe talaga, I’m ready po talaga to work again for the next Olympics in LA,” she said in an interview with One Sports.

The foil fencer also relished the opportunity of going up against the World No. 2 fencer, satisfied with her performance despite having just a few months of preparation due to an injury.

“I’m very blessed po to give my best po all throughout the competition but unfortunately po, talagang kinapos e,” she stressed.

“But, I know for a fact that coming here, I wasn’t as ready po as my other opponents kasi nga po kagagaling ko lang po ng injury and nag-start lang ako ng fencing by February. But I was really happy with the way I fenced today, hopefully po, sa mga susunod na tournaments po, I’m able to perform better,” she added.

Catantan also bared that after her match with Pistoia, she hurt her meniscus, which affected her performance against Errigo.

“So hopefully, hindi siya napunit or anything but for now po talaga medyo loose iyong tuhod ko, habang naglalaro kaya very hesitant to attack, I was waiting po for my opponent to finish her attack para makatusok ako without pushing my back leg too much,” she said.

“But I’m very happy po na dikit iyong laban, but unfortunately of course, sayang po talaga… I’m very grateful po talaga and I’m very, very happy po with the way I fenced.”